Sunday, November 19, 2017

Delhi's airport, which is the country's busiest, not only operates the maximum number of flights a day in India, but also tops an unflattering list.
Data provided by the Airports Authority of India in response to an RTI request from Mail Today shows that, up until August 31 this year, as many as 48 emergency landings took place across the country, of which 23 were in the capital.
Three other metro cities, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata, reported six, three and one emergency landings, respectively.

As recently as Saturday morning, a Delhi-Patna GoAir flight carrying 174 passengers had a close shave following a bird hit, soon after taking off from IGI airport.
An official said the Airbus A320neo plane suffered the mishap while climbing, forcing the pilot to discontinue the journey and return to the capital for an inspection of the plane.
Airlines sources said the front part of the aircraft was damaged.
Technical glitches were the reason behind the vast majority of emergency landings, with other issues including engine malfunctioning, problems with brakes, leakage of oil, smoke in the aircraft and windshield damage.
But several flights were also forced to land abruptly because of rumours and mischief, including nine due to hoax threats.
This month, the crew of a GoAir Delhi-Kolkata flight discovered a note that claimed there was a bomb on board.
The pilot alerted the ATC at Kolkata, which arranged its priority landing. In another dramatic case, a hijack scare was perpetrated by a businessman that led to a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight being diverted to Ahmedabad.
The suspect, identified as Birju Kishore Salla, who was on the flight, allegedly left a note in the lavatory warning that there would be a 'blast' if the aircraft landed in Delhi.
He did this to win the love of a Jet Airways employee. The case in now being probed by NIA.
According to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which falls under MoCA, over the last four years, 30 accidents involving aircraft took place in India.
Three years ago a total 39 emergency landings were reported throughout the country. This figure shot up to 51 in 2015 and reached 50 in 2016.
Back in 2014, Mumbai reported 15 emergency landings, higher than Delhi's 12. But figures for the financial capital dipped to six in 2015 and seven in 2016, while Delhi's numbers remained consistent with 19 cases in 2015 and 18 in 2016.
19/11/17 Shashank Shekhar & Debbie White/Mail Online India